Content area
Full text
ALASKA TREES AND SHRUBS. By LESLIE A. VIERECK and ELBERT L. LITTLE, Jr. Fairbanks: University of Alaska Press, 2007. 2nd ed. ISBN 1-889963-86-0. x + 359 p., maps, b&w illus., colour plates. glossary, bib., index. Softbound. US$24.95.
This second edition of Alaska Trees and Shrubs is an update of the original 1972 U.S. Forest Service Agriculture Handbook No. 410. This popular handbook was out of print and unavailable for several years until 1986, when the University of Alaska Press republished it in its original 1972 format.
In this second edition, Dr. David F. Murray, professor of botany and curator emeritus, University of Alaska Fairbanks, reviewed and updated plant names and made other significant contributions. Dr. George Argus, curator emeritus, Canadian Museum of Nature, Ottawa, provided important information on the Alaska willows.
There are notable changes in this second edition, but the general format and content of the first edition are retained. The front cover of the first edition was a drawing of an interior spruce-birch forest by late Fairbanks artist William D. Berry. The front cover of this second edition consists of nine colour photographs and three line drawings. I had fun trying to identify the three species depicted in the line drawings, which weren't identified in the "Cover images" on the copyright page.
This new edition includes 16 pages of excellent colour photographs of selected Alaska trees and shrubs and important landscapes and major vegetation types. The keys have been changed to couplet format, which makes them easier to use, and English measurements have been changed to metric units. A glossary and appendices...